System and Method for Displaying Highest and Lowest Traded Prices of Tradable Objects

ABSTRACT

A client terminal displays on a graphical interface a first indicator of a price associated with a lowest traded price of a tradable object during a predetermined period of time, a second indicator of a price associated with a highest traded price of the tradable object during the predetermined period of time, along with at least one quantity indicator associated with at least one order to buy/order the tradable object. The first indicator, the second indicator, and the at least one quantity indicator are displayed in relation to a static axis of price, and the client terminal dynamically updates the first and second indicator to new lowest and highest traded prices based on market updates received from an exchange.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/274,913, filed May 12, 2014, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/742,855, filed Jan. 16, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No.8,762,255, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/848,685, filed Aug. 2, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,392,315, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/260,643, filed Sep.30, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,813,994, the contents of each of which arefully incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed towards electronic trading. Morespecifically, the present invention is directed towards monitoringlowest and highest traded prices of at least one tradable object anddynamically displaying results thereof using indicators.

BACKGROUND

Many exchanges throughout the world now support electronic trading.Electronic trading has made it possible for an increasing number ofpeople to actively participate in a market at any given time. Theincrease in the number of potential market participants hasadvantageously led to, among other things, a more competitive market andgreater liquidity.

Exchanges that support electronic trading are generally based on a host,one or more computer networks, and clients. In general, the hostincludes one or more centralized computers to form the electronic heart.Its operations typically include order matching, maintaining order booksand positions, price information, and managing and updating a databasethat records such information. The host is also equipped with anexternal interface that maintains uninterrupted contact to the clientsand possibly other trading-related systems.

Typically, market participants link to the host through one or morenetworks. A network is a group of two or more computers linked together.There are many types of networks such as local area networks and widearea networks. Networks can also be characterized by topology, protocol,and architecture. However, any type of network configuration can be usedin electronic trading. For example, some market participants may link tothe host through a direct connection such as a T1 or ISDN. Someparticipants may link to the exchange through direct connections andthrough other common network components such as high-speed servers,routers, gateways, and so on.

Regardless of the way in which a connection is established, softwarerunning on the clients allows people to log onto one or more exchangesand participate in one or more markets. Some clients run software thatcreates specialized interactive trading screens. In general, the tradingscreens enable people to enter orders into the market, obtain marketquotes, and monitor positions. The range and quality of featuresavailable varies according to the specific software application beingrun.

The success of a trader who trades in a competitive electronic tradingenvironment depends on many factors. One of the most important factorsis how fast a trader can make a trade. Also important is the ability ofa trader to view market changes on real-time basis. In today's market, atrader needs tools to view market movements and trends. There are manycurrently existing software applications that assist traders withviewing current markets. These applications typically plot real-timemarket data into a variety of chart formats that may be accessed by atrader at any time during a day. A market chart is often presented as asequence of prices or volumes that are plotted over a specific timeframe, such as over a specific trading day, month, year, or number ofyears.

Considering the number of screens that a typical trader has to view atthe same time, visual viewing of charts may be time consuming andphysically demanding. Because viewing market trends is of greatimportance, it is desirable for electronic trading system to offer toolsthat can assist a trader in trading in an electronic marketplace, helpthe trader to make trades at the most favorable prices in a speedy andaccurate manner, while being able to conveniently view one or moremarket trends.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Example embodiments of the present invention are described herein withreference to the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an example of a network configuration for a communicationsystem utilized to access one or more exchanges;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example display having bid andask quantities displayed in association with a static axis of pricesthat may be used in accordance with preferred embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating one process for displaying thehighest and lowest traded prices on the display of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating one example display showing twoprice indicators in the form of horizontal lines in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating one example display showing twoprice indicators in the form of highlighted cells in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating one example display showing twoprice indicators in the form of graphical symbols in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating one example display showing anindicator column as means for displaying a price indication inaccordance with one embodiment; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating one example display showing acombination of two price indicators in accordance with one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is beneficial to display market information in a manner that allows atrader to quickly monitor how the market fluctuates at any predeterminedpoint of time during a trading day, or a predetermined period of time,in comparison to the current market stage. According to one preferredembodiment, the market information includes the highest traded price andthe lowest traded price of a tradable object during a predeterminedperiod of time. As used herein, the term “tradable object” refers simplyto anything that can be traded with a quantity and/or price. Itincludes, but is not limited to, all types of tradable objects such asfinancial products, which can include, for example, stocks, options,bonds, futures, currency, and warrants, as well as funds, derivativesand collections of the foregoing, and all types of commodities, such asgrains, energy, and metals. The tradable object may be “real,” such asproducts that are listed by an exchange for trading, or “synthetic,”such as a combination of real products that is created by the user.

More specifically, the present invention provides a method and systemfor dynamically displaying a quantity indicator associated with at leastone order (such as a buy order, a sell order, or both) of a tradableobject, in combination with dynamically displaying information relatedto the highest traded price and the lowest traded price of the tradableobject during a predetermined period of time. The quantity indicator,the highest traded price, and the lowest traded price are displayed inrelation to a static axis of prices. It should be understood thatstatic, in the context of the embodiments described hereinafter, doesnot mean immovable, but rather fixed in relation. For example, with astatic axis of prices, the axis itself may be movable (e.g., via arecentering or repositioning command), but the prices represented remainfixed in relation to the market information, subject to consolidation orexpansion. Further, for example, the static axis of prices can stayfixed even when the market moves.

According to the example embodiments, the highest traded price and thelowest traded price shown in relation to the static axis of pricesreflect the lowest and highest traded prices of a tradable object duringa predetermined period of time that, by default, may include the entiretrading day, or, alternatively, may be user configurable. For instance,a user may configure the predetermined period of time to be a specifictime interval during a trading day. Therefore, for instance, using thepresent invention, a trader may view current market fluctuations ofprices of a tradable object compared to the highest and lowest tradedprices of a tradable object during a trading day.

While the present invention is described herein with reference toillustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should beunderstood that the present invention is not limited thereto. Thosehaving ordinary skill of art will recognize that many additionalmodifications and embodiments are possible as well.

FIG. 1 shows an example system that may be used to implement networkconnection between a plurality of exchanges and client terminals. Itshould be understood, however, that this and other arrangementsdescribed herein are set forth for purposes of example only. As such,those skilled in the art will appreciate that other arrangements andother elements (e.g., machines, interfaces, functions, orders offunctions, etc.) can be used instead, and some elements may be omittedaltogether. Further, as in most telecommunications applications, thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that many of the elements describedherein are functional entities that may be implemented as discrete ordistributed components or in conjunction with other components, and inany suitable combination and location.

Still further, various functions described herein as being performed byone or more entities may be carried out by hardware and/or softwarelogic. For instance, various functions may be carried out by a processorexecuting a set of machine language instructions stored in memory.Provided with the present disclosure, those skilled in the art canreadily prepare appropriate computer instructions to perform suchfunctions.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the illustrated system includes trading houses102 and 104 that are connected to exchanges 118, 120, 122, and 124through one or more gateways 108 and 110. The aforementioned exchangesmay include the Chicago Board of Trade (“CBOT”), the New York StockExchange (“NYSE”), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (“CME”), the Xetra (aGerman stock exchange), or the European derivatives market (“Eurex”).However, it should be understood that the exchanges could also includeany other currently existing or later created exchanges as well.Additionally, it should be understood that the preferred embodiments arenot limited to any particular network architecture or tradingapplication, but rather may be applied with utility on any client devicein any network that can be used for electronic trading. Furthermore, thepresent invention is not limited to a completely electronic tradingenvironment where orders are sent to an electronic matching engine. Forexample, the invention could be utilized with an electronic tradingapplication, which sends orders electronically to a terminal where aperson (e.g., a floor broker) executes those orders in a traditionalopen outcry trading floor.

Each trading house has one or more client terminals. For example, thetrading house 102 includes N client terminals, and the trading house 104includes M client terminals. It should be understood that N and M couldbe any number, and the present invention is not limited to any specificnumber of client terminals at one trading house. Further, it should beunderstood that the example embodiments are not limited to tradinghouses. As illustrated in FIG. 1, an individual client terminal 106,being operated by one or more traders, may also connect to the exchangesin a similar fashion as the trading houses.

The term client terminal, as used herein, can include any computingterminal, including a personal computer, a handheld device, and othercurrently existing or later developed computing terminals. Further, itshould be understood that a client terminal may connect to the gatewaysvia wireless communication links, wireline communication links, or acombination thereof. In general, a client terminal, according to theexample embodiments described hereinafter, is a computer that allows atrader to participate in the market hosted at the exchange, and usessoftware that creates specialized interactive trading screens on theclient terminal. The range and quality of features available to thetrader on his or her client terminal's screen may vary according to thespecific software application being run on the client terminal. Amongother functional features, a trading screen being run on a clientterminal may enable traders to enter and execute orders, obtain marketquotes, and monitor positions. However, it should be understood that, inaddition to interactive trading screens, a client terminal may also runautomated or semi-automated non-interactive types of tradingapplications.

The system shows two possible configurations, although any number ofconfigurations is possible. In one configuration illustrated in FIG. 1,the trading house 102 is connected to the gateway 108 that communicateswith the exchanges 118, 120, and 122 through gateways 112, 114, and 116.The assignee of the present invention sells one such gateway, referredto as TT Relay™, that may connect to multiple gateways. Additionally,the trading house 102 communicates with the exchange 124 through thegateway 110. It should be understood that more network devices, such asrouters, may exist along the path between the trading house 102 and theexchanges 118-124.

In another configuration, the trading house 104 and the client terminal106 are connected to the exchange 124 through the gateway 110. Accordingto the second configuration, the trading house 104 and the clientterminal 106 communicate with the exchange through one gateway. As withthe first configuration, more network devices may exist along the pathbetween the trading houses and exchanges. It should also be understoodthat there are many possible variations beside the system shown inFIG. 1. For example, the gateway 110 may be connected to the gateways112-116 so that the trading house 104 and the client terminal 106 mayconnect with the exchanges 118-124. Alternatively, the gateway 110 mayconnect to the gateway 108 that then provides connections to thegateways 112, 114, and 116. Moreover, the gateway(s) may reside on thetrading workstations, or it may be located on a separate physical deviceon a computer network. Similarly, a single physical device may providemore than one instantiation of a gateway. Each gateway, as is known inthe art, may include one or more computers, or software programs, andmay receive information from the host exchanges and send the informationdown to the client terminal 106. Preferably, each gateway receives datafrom the host exchanges and converts the received data to a formatcompatible with the protocols used on the client terminal 106.Alternatively, the conversion could be performed at the client terminal106.

Each host exchange may provide different types of information, and mayrelay this information, or a portion thereof, collectively called a datafeed, over a network to market participants at the client terminals. Adata feed from one exchange may contain different informationrepresenting different tradable objects than another data feed from asecond exchange. Further, a data feed coming from an exchange mayinclude information related to all tradable objects being traded at thatexchange. In such an embodiment, when a client terminal receives a datafeed, a trading application on the client terminal may use the receiveddata feed to extract data relevant to one or more tradable objectsselected by a trader at the client terminal. Alternatively, the datafeed provided from the exchange to a client terminal may include onlydata relevant to the tradable objects selected by a trader at the clientterminal.

Data feeds may include information relating to prices and quantities ofone or more tradable objects. For example, a data feed could providedata corresponding to quantities at inside market prices and/or datacorresponding to quantity at different prices. The inside market is thehighest bid price (“HBP”) and the lowest ask price (“LAP”) for atradable object. Data feeds from some exchanges may also provide datarelated to the market depth. The market depth is each available pendingbid and ask quantity, or any aggregation or combination thereof, enteredat a particular price. The extent of the market depth available to atrader depends on the exchange. Some exchanges provide an infinitemarket depth, while others provide only quantities associated with theinside market and some may provide no market depth.

The data feed may also contain other types of market information such asthe last traded price (“LTP”), the last traded quantity (“LTQ”), orderinformation, and/or fill information for a tradable object.Additionally, some exchanges may also monitor traded prices for tradableobjects being offered at the exchange, and may determine the highesttraded price (“HTP”) and the lowest traded price (“LTP”) for each orsome trading objects offered at the exchange during a trading day. Inone embodiment, such exchanges may use data feeds to provide, to clientterminals, the highest traded price and the lowest traded price for oneor more trading objects. Alternatively, the exchanges may use specialmarket update messages that are exclusively used to send the highesttraded price and the lowest traded price to the client terminals. Insuch an embodiment, the exchange may send an update message every time anew highest or lowest traded price is detected for a tradable object.

A commercially available trading application that allows a user to tradein a system like that shown in FIG. 1 is X_TRADER® from TradingTechnologies International, Inc. of Chicago, Ill. X_TRADER® alsoprovides an electronic trading interface, referred to as MD Trader™, inwhich working orders and/or bid and ask quantities are displayed inassociation with a static axis of prices. However, the preferredembodiments are not limited to any particular product.

Portions of the X_TRADER® and the MD Trader™-style display are describedin U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/590,692, entitled “Click BasedTrading With Intuitive Grid Display of Market Depth,” filed on Jun. 9,2000, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/971,087, entitled “ClickBased Trading With Intuitive Grid Display of Market Depth and PriceConsolidation,” filed on Oct. 5, 2001, the contents of both areincorporated herein by reference. Moreover, the trading application mayimplement tools for trading tradable objects that are described in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/125,894, filed on Apr. 19, 2002, entitled“Trading Tools for Electronic Trading,” the contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

The example embodiments for displaying market information, including thehighest traded price and/or the lowest traded price, related to atradable object will be described below in reference to the MDTrader™-style display that displays information, such as orders to buyor orders to sell, in association with price levels arranged along acommon static axis or scale of prices. The quantities associated withorders to buy are preferably displayed in a bid display region andquantities associated with orders to sell are preferably displayed in anask display region. These quantities can be displayed using any type ofindicator. For example, the indicator can be a graphical representationof quantity (e.g., colors, bars, etc.) or can simply be a number. Theprice levels are fixed in relation to the bid and ask display regionssuch that the indicators displayed in these regions can move relative tothe static price axis. It should be noted that the static axis of pricesis not immovable relative to the display (e.g., the screen). Forexample, which portion of the static axis that is being viewed can bechanged by scrolling up or down the axis or by entering a repositioningcommand. One embodiment using this type of display system displaysmarket information with respect to a vertical axis so that the marketinformation fluctuates logically up and down relative to the axis as themarket prices fluctuate. It should be understood that while the exampleembodiments for displaying the highest and lowest traded prices of atradable object are described in reference to the MD Trader™-styledisplay, the present invention is not limited to any particular displayand could be used with different or equivalent displays. Further, itshould be understood that many modifications to the MD Trader™ displayare possible as well. For example, information related to a tradableobject may be displayed on horizontally relative to a horizontallyoriented axis, n-dimensionally, or in any other fashion.

In a fast moving market, where varying price levels are trading (i.e.,bids and offers entering the market are being matched at differentprices), it is beneficial for a trader to be able to quickly enterorders and quickly see and analyze market information. FIG. 2illustrates a display 200 that allows a trader to quickly enter ordersat specific price levels by clicking next to a static axis of prices,displayed as a static column, and to quickly and easily see informationsuch as working orders. The display 200 is the MD Trader™-style display;however, some of the fields available on the typical MD Trader™ havebeen omitted and are not described in reference to FIG. 2. A typical MDTrader™-style display is described in greater detail in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/590,692, filed on Jun. 9, 2000, the contents ofwhich are fully incorporated herein by reference.

The display shown in FIG. 2 includes a working orders column 202, a bidquantity (“Bid Qty”) column 204, an ask quantity (“Ask Qty”) column 206,and a price column 208. In the preferred embodiment, the three columns202, 204, 206 are shown in different colors so that a trader can easilydistinguish them. Further, it should be understood that a trader has theability to control the arrangement of the columns on the display. Forexample, the Bid Qty column 204 could be positioned on the left side ofthe price column 208, while the Ask Qty column 206 could be positionedto the right of the price column 208. However, it should be understoodthat other arrangements are possible as well. The Bid Qty column 204displays bid quantities, and the Ask Qty column 206 displays askquantities. The representative prices for a given trading object areshown in the price column 208. As mentioned in reference to precedingparagraphs, the price column 208 includes a static axis of prices. Itshould be understood that the static axis of prices could be displayedin any manner, including in a row, on any angle, or n-dimensionally,without departing from the invention. Alternatively, the prices on thestatic axis of prices do not need to be displayed.

The representative prices for a given tradable object are illustrated inthe price column 208 and incremented in “ticks,” where a tick is theminimum change in a price value that is set by the exchange for atradable object. It should be understood that prices can be displayed asticks, as multiples of ticks, or in any other fashion. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 2, the column does not list the whole price (e.g.,99.89), but only the last two digits (e.g., 89). Other price displayconventions may alternatively be used, as long as price information isconveyed to the user. In an alternative embodiment, the static axis ofprices may include no numerical values at all. In such an embodiment,the market information may be displayed relative to one another along ascale or axis representing particular prices using particular colors orusing other methods. Further, alternatively, prices could beconsolidated, and the display could show consolidated prices so that forinstance, a cell could correspond to a range of prices instead of oneprice. More information on price consolidation may be found in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/971,087, filed on Oct. 5, 2001, “ClickBased Trading with Intuitive Grid Display of Market Depth and PriceConsolidation,” the contents of which are fully incorporated herein byreference.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the inside market is 90 (best bid price) and91 (best ask price). There is a quantity of 150 (best bid quantity) at90 and a quantity of 120 (best ask quantity) at 91. Three additionalmarket depth levels are also shown in FIG. 2. Specifically, the first,second, and third additional market depth levels are 180, 120 and 400(ask quantities) at 92, 93, and 94 (ask prices), and 100, 150, and 25(bid quantities) at 89, 88, and 87 (bid prices). The working ordercolumn 202 displays the current status of the trader's orders. Thestatus of each order is displayed in the price row where it was entered.For example, in the working orders column 202, in a cell correspondingto the static price 90, the number next to “B” indicates the number ofthe trader's lots that have been bought at the price in the specificrow, i.e., price 90. Referring to the lower cell in the working orderscolumn 202, in a cell corresponding to the static price 89, the numbernext to W indicates the number of the trader's ordered lots that are inthe market, but have not been filled, i.e., the system is working onfilling the order. Although not shown, the working orders column 202 mayalso include current status of trader's sale orders. The sale orderscould be indicated in a cell including “S” and “W” and the correspondingnumbers. A non-zero number next to “S” would indicate the number oftrader's ordered lots that have been sold at the price in the specificrow. The number next to “W” in such an order would indicate the numberof the trader's ordered lots that are in the market, but have not beenfilled—i.e., the system is working on filling the order.

It should be understood that the same information and features can bedisplayed and enabled in a horizontal or other fashion. Just as themarket ascends and descends the vertical axis in the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 2, the market will move left and right in thehorizontal display, while the same data and the same information gleanedfrom the dynamic display of the data is provided. It should beunderstood that other orientations can be used to dynamically displaythe data and such orientations are intended to come within the scope ofthe present invention.

The specific features of the embodiment of a display as in FIG. 2 are anexample of one embodiment of a screen display that can be used with thepresent invention. The present invention is not limited, however, to ascreen display utilized each of these features.

Maximum and Minimum Traded Price Indicators

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram 300 illustrating an example method fordisplaying market information associated with a tradable object based onmarket updates received from an exchange. More specifically, the marketinformation includes the lowest traded price and the highest tradedprice of a tradable object that are determined based on market updatesprovided by an exchange. It should be understood that the flow diagram300 illustrates only example steps that may be taken to display thelowest and highest traded prices associated with a tradable object, andmore or fewer steps may be included in the flow diagram, and more orfewer steps may occur in one or more orders.

Referring to the flow chart in FIG. 3, at step 302, a client terminalreceives a first market update from an exchange. In one embodiment, amarket update may have a format of a message and may include the insidemarket, quantities, along with the highest traded price and the lowesttraded price associated with a tradable object. Alternatively, anexchange may use one or more separate market update messagesspecifically designed to exclusively send the highest and lowest tradedprices whenever a change in one of these prices is detected at theexchange. It should be understood that when a gateway associated withthe client terminal receives the first market update from the exchange,the gateway may convert the received data into a format compatible withprotocols used on the client terminal.

When the client terminal receives the first market update, at step 304,a trading application on the client terminal uses the informationspecified in the received update to dynamically display a firstindicator reflecting the lowest traded price of a tradable object.According to an example embodiment, the first indicator is displayed onthe MD Trader™-style display, such as the display illustrated in FIG. 2,in relation to a static axis of prices, the example embodiments of whichwill be described in greater detail in reference to subsequent figures.

At step 306, the trading application on the client terminal uses theinformation specified in the first update to dynamically display asecond indicator reflecting the highest traded price of the tradableobject. Similarly to the first indicator, the second indicator is alsodisplayed in relation to the static axis of prices associated with thetradable object. It should be understood, and as explained in referenceto FIG. 2, the MD Trader™-style display may also display otherinformation related to the tradable object, including, for example, aquantity indicator associated with at least one order for the tradableobject, such as at least one order to buy and/or sell the tradableobject. In such an embodiment, one or more quantity indicators are alsodisplayed in relation to the static axis of prices.

At step 308, the trading application on the client terminal receives asecond, or subsequent, market update from the exchange. Depending onformats and types of messages being used by exchanges to convey thehighest and lowest traded prices of tradable objects, different stepsmay be carried out at a gateway or the trading application at the clientterminal to determine if the highest traded price and/or the lowesttraded price have changed compared to the prices associated with thefirst and second indicators. In an embodiment in which an exchangeprovides the highest/lowest traded price information in a market updateincluding the inside market, the market update message may include aspecial flag indicating that a new highest or lowest traded price isspecified in the message. Alternatively, if an exchange monitors thehighest/lowest traded prices for the tradable object and sends a specialupdate message only if the new highest/lowest traded price is detected,then, when the trading application at the client terminal receives sucha message, the trading application may simply use the informationspecified in the message to determine that a new highest/lowest tradedprice has been reached. Further, for example, an exchange may use twoseparate update messages, one of which used to send the highest tradedprice updates, and another to send the lowest traded price updates.

Further, alternatively, an exchange may only provide the last tradedprice of a tradable object. In such an embodiment, gateway or a tradingapplication on a client terminal may determine a first highest tradedprice and a first lowest traded price based on the first and second lasttraded prices received from an exchange (assuming that the first twolast traded prices have different values). In an embodiment in which thegateway makes such a determination, the gateway may then send thisinformation to the client terminal. The first highest and lowest tradedprices may then be displayed on a display using a first indicator and asecond indicator. In such an embodiment, once the first and secondindicators are displayed, the gateway or the trading application on theclient terminal may then use a next update message received from theexchange to determine if the last traded price specified in the receivedmessage corresponds to a new highest or lowest traded price of thetradable object. In one embodiment, the gateway or the tradingapplication may determine a relative price level of the received lasttraded price compared to the lowest/highest traded prices correspondingto the first and second indicators. If the last traded price is lowerthan the traded price corresponding to the first indicator (the lowesttraded price), the gateway or the trading application may determine thata new lowest traded price has been received for the tradable object. Ifthe last traded price is higher that the traded price corresponding tothe second indicator (the highest traded price), the gateway or thetrading application may determine that a new highest traded price hasbeen received for the tradable object. It should be understood thatdifferent embodiments are possible as well.

At step 310, the trading application on the client terminal updates thefirst and second indicators based on price information specified in thesecond, or subsequent, update message. As described in the precedingparagraphs, the functions performed on the gateway or the tradingapplication to determine if a new highest/lowest traded price has beenreached may depend on the format and information contained in the updatemessage received from the exchange. Irrespectively of what operationsare performed, when the new lowest traded price is detected, the firstindicator is dynamically updated, i.e., repositioned to reflect the newlowest traded price. Similarly, when the new highest traded price isdetected, the second indicator is repositioned to reflect the newhighest traded price.

It should be understood that a first indicator and a second indicatorreflect the lowest traded price and the highest traded price over apredetermined period of time. In one embodiment, the predeterminedperiod of time, by default, may be set to a trading day. In such anembodiment, the first trading indicator and the second tradingindicator, at the beginning of a trading day, may be set to the previousday settlement highest traded price and the lowest traded price.Alternatively, the trading application may wait until it receives datarelated to the first trades in a particular trading day, i.e., dataincluding the highest traded price and the lowest traded price, or dataincluding information that can be used at the trading application todetermine the highest traded price and the lowest traded price.

However, the predetermined period of time does not necessarily have tobe set to the entire trading day. It should be understood that thepredetermined period of time may be user configurable. For example, auser may want to view the highest and lowest traded prices over apredetermined time interval, such as over a specific hour during atrading day. In one embodiment, a user could preprogram such a specifictime interval at any time during a trading day. In such an embodiment,the trading application may send the user request to a gateway, forexample, and the gateway may use the last traded prices being receivedfrom the exchange to determine new high or low traded prices during thetime interval specified by the user. In such an embodiment, when a newhigh or low is detected on the gateway, the gateway may send thatinformation to the client terminal via a data feed or using apredetermined message for sending high and low updates. Once theinformation is received at the client terminal, the client terminal mayautomatically set the indicators corresponding to the highest and lowesttraded prices of a tradable object and may update the indicatorsthroughout the predetermined time interval based on the updates providedby the gateway. Further, in such an embodiment, the indicatorsreflecting the highest and lowest traded prices over the time periodspecified by the user may be displayed instead of or in addition toindicators reflecting the highest and lowest traded prices during atrading day. In such an embodiment, to differentiate the indicatorsrelated to the highest/lowest traded prices associated with the entiretrading day and indicators related to the highest/lowest traded pricesmonitored over a time period specified by a user, the indicators may bedisplayed using different colors. Alternatively, different types ofindicators configurable by a user could also be used instead.

Further, in an alternative embodiment, a user could preset a movabletime window to monitor the highest and lowest traded prices during thepreset time period. For example, instead of monitoring the entiretrading day, or a preset period of time, such as a specific hour or anumber of hours during a trading day, a user could preset, for instance,a movable ten minutes time window. In such an embodiment, the indicatorswould reflect highest and lowest traded prices during the first tenminutes from the specified start time, and then would be reset, andreflect the prices for the next ten minutes, and so on.

It should be understood that the method of determining the highest andlowest traded prices based on data received from the exchange could beperformed on the client terminal or the gateway, or partially performedon the gateway and the client terminal. Determining the highest andlowest traded prices on the gateway may turn out beneficial when aclient terminal has little processing power.

Further, it should be understood that the present invention is notlimited to displaying the highest and lowest traded prices associatedwith a single tradable object. In an alternative embodiment, the highestand lowest traded prices may be displayed for a spread. Spread tradingis the buying and/or selling of two or more tradable objects, and aspread trade could involve buying two or more tradable objects, buyingand selling two or more tradable objects, selling two or more tradableobjects, or some combination thereof. According to an exampleembodiment, when a user selects individual tradable objects underlyingthe spread, i.e., legs of the spread, an automatic spreader maycalculate an overall spread based on data feeds associated with eachleg. Further, in such an embodiment, the automatic spreader maycalculate the highest traded price and the lowest traded price of thespread using highest and lowest traded prices associated with eachtradable object of the spread. The automatic spreader and methods forcalculating spread prices are described in greater detail in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/137,979, filed on May 3, 2002, entitled “Systemand Method for Performing Automatic Spread Trading,” the contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the highest and lowest tradedprices associated with a tradable object during a predetermined periodof time are displayed using two visual indicators. It should beunderstood that any type of indicator may be used as long as it isrecognizable by a user as the highest and/or lowest traded price of atradable object during a predetermined period of time. For example, theindicators may be graphical indicators, color indicators, or markers.Further, each indicator may include an associated numerical value.Alternatively, or additionally, each indicator could be designated witha letter or word, such as “H,” “L,” “Max,” or “Min.” In one embodiment,the two indicators may be of the same type. In an alternativeembodiment, two different indicators may be used to illustrate thehighest and lowest traded prices of a tradable object.

Further, in accordance with a preferred embodiment, when a new highestor lowest traded price is reached, a sound alert may be generated tonotify a user of the new high or low. In such an embodiment, it shouldbe understood that a user may pre-configure sound indicators reflectingthe new high or low via a graphical interface, such as a popup windowenabling the user to select from a number of possible audio indicators.Further, it should be understood that a voice synthesizer could be usedto notify the user of the new high or low, to play “A new high has beenreached,” for example, when the new highest traded price is reached. Itshould be understood that different embodiments could also be used, andthe present invention is not limited to any particular sound indicator.

As noted above, items of interest in the user interface may becolor-coded or highlighted using color or gray scale shades. In apreferred embodiment, the user interface is of the type illustrated inFIG. 2 having market data displayed in relation to a static axis ofprices, such as the MD_TRADER™ style display. In MD_TRADER™, the highestand lowest traded price of a tradable object during a predeterminedperiod of time may be presented as a pair of indicator bars in the formof two horizontal lines.

FIG. 4 is an example display showing two price indicators in the form ofhorizontal lines. In FIG. 4, two horizontal lines 410 and 412 aredisplayed in a price column 408 at levels corresponding to the highestand lowest traded prices, respectively. Thus, according to an embodimentillustrated in FIG. 4, the highest traded price for a tradable object is97, and the lowest traded price is 87. It should be understood that thehorizontal line indicators may be color indicators and may be displayedusing the same or different colors. For example, the highest tradedprice indicator 410 may be displayed using one color, such as yellow,and the lowest traded price indicator 412 may be displayed using anothercolor, such as red. However, it should be understood that differentcolors could also be used. In one embodiment, the trading applicationpreferably allows a user to change color designation in accordance withthe user's preference. Further, it should be understood that thehorizontal line indicators are not necessarily displayed in the pricecolumn 408, and could be displayed in relation to the price column. Inone embodiment, the price indicators 410 and 412 may be displayedadjacent to the price column 408, for example. The indicator horizontalbars 410 and 412 move in relation to the static axis of prices in theprice column 408 based on the highest and lowest traded price movementsduring a predetermined period of time. Thus, for example, if a newhighest traded price is reached for a tradable object, the priceindicator 410 is moved to a new price level reflecting the new highesttraded price. As mentioned in reference to preceding figures, theindicator updates are done based on market updates related to thetradable object received from the exchange.

Further, if a price consolidation mechanism is used, it should beunderstood that the price indicators corresponding to the highest andlowest traded prices may be displayed in a cell corresponding to a rangeof prices including the highest or lowest traded price. For example, ifa cell corresponds to prices ranging from 89-91, and the highest tradedprice is 90, then a highest traded price indicator may be displayed inrelation to the middle portion of the cell. Alternatively, the priceindicator could be displayed anywhere within the cell including thehighest traded price, thus, only indicating that the highest tradedprices is somewhere within the ranged of prices represented by the cell.

In an alternative embodiment, the highest and lowest traded prices maybe presented as highlighted or partially highlighted cells on a staticaxis of prices. FIG. 5 is an example display showing two priceindicators in the form of highlighted cells on a static axis of prices.As illustrated in FIG. 5, the highest traded price and the lowest tradedprice associated with a tradable object are displayed on the exampledisplay as highlighted price cells in the price column 508, as shown at510 and 512. It should be understood that each cell may be highlightedin a particular color that may be configurable by a user, for example.Alternatively, a particular highlighting pattern may be used tohighlight the cells corresponding to the highest and lowest tradedprices. It should be understood that a highlighting pattern used in eachcell may be different or the same, and it may be configurable by a user.Further, it should be understood that only a portion of each cell may behighlighted.

The indicators related to the highest and lowest traded prices may bedisplayed in any format that is suitable and recognizable by a user. Forexample, graphical symbols may be used as indicators of the highest andlowest traded prices. FIG. 6 is an example display showing priceindicators in the form of graphical symbols. FIG. 6 shows pricescorresponding to the highest traded price and the lowest traded price inthe price column 610 surrounded by colored, shaded, or highlightedcircles, as shown at 610 and 612. However, it should be understood thatdifferent types of graphical indicators could also be used, such asboxes surrounding respective prices, or graphical indicators displayednext to the prices in the price cells. Further, it should be understoodthat graphical indicators could occupy either a portion or the entireprice cell corresponding to the highest or lowest traded price. Inalternative embodiment, graphical indicators may be displayed inrelation to a static axis of prices in the price column 608, such asnext to the price column 608.

FIG. 7 is an example display showing an indicator column related to thehighest and lowest traded price of a tradable object. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 7, a column indicator 710 is displayed in the pricecolumn 708 and indicates a range of prices between the lowest andhighest traded prices. The column indicator 710 may be a colored,highlighted or shaded column. FIG. 7 illustrates the column indicator710 occupying only a portion of each price cell between the highesttraded price and the lowest traded price. However, in an alternativeembodiment, entire cells between the highest traded price and the lowesttraded price may be highlighted as well. Further, alternatively, thecolumn indicator may be displayed adjacent to the price column 708.

In view of the embodiments described above, it should be understood thatthe type of indicators relating to the highest and lowest traded pricesmay be selectable by a user. For instance one or more methods fordisplaying price indicators could be combined as well. In oneembodiment, the method of displaying the highest and lowest tradedprices using horizontal line indicators could be combined with the pricecolumn indicator. FIG. 8 is an example display showing two priceindicators in the form of horizontal lines and further showing ahighlighted indicator column. In FIG. 8, two horizontal lines 810 and814 are displayed in the price column 808 at levels corresponding to thehighest traded price and the lowest traded price. Further, a range ofprices between the highest and lowest traded prices is highlighted usinga highlighted indicator column 812.

It should be understood that different embodiments are possible as well,and the present invention is not limited to the described types ofindicators. Further, it should be understood that user may configureprice indicator to reflect prices related to, but not equal to, thehighest and traded price. As an example, price indicators may reflect acertain percentage, or percentages, of the highest and lowest tradedprices of a tradable object. Those skilled in the art will recognizethat many other embodiments within the scope of the present inventionare also possible.

In accordance with one embodiment, the graphical user interface for atrading application provides means for indicating that an item ofinterest is outside the viewable range of display. For example, due tomarket movement, indicators of the highest and lowest traded price maybe outside the viewable range of display. According to an exampleembodiment, a user has the ability to cause the display to shift up ordown so that the user may view the indicator that is outside theviewable area. In one embodiment, the out of range indicator is an arrowor similar pointing indicator, which indicates to the user that an itemof interest, such as an indicator of the highest traded price or thelowest traded price, lies outside the viewable area, and furtherindicates the direction in which the viewable area needs to move inorder for the user to view the item of interest. More information onmeans for indicating that an item of interest is outside the viewablearea may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/125,894,entitled “Trading Tools for Electronic Trading,” fully incorporatedherein by reference.

It should be understood that the above description of the preferredembodiments, alternative embodiments, and specific examples, are givenby way of illustration and should not be viewed as limiting. Further,many changes and modifications within the scope of the presentembodiments may be made without departing from the spirit thereof, andthe present invention includes such changes and modifications.

Further, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art thatmethods involved in the system and method for displaying marketinformation relating to a tradable object may be embodied in a computerprogram product that includes one or more computer readable media. Forexample, a computer readable medium can include a readable memorydevice, such as a hard drive device, CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or a computerdiskette, having computer readable program code segments stored thereon.The computer readable medium can also include a communications ortransmission medium, such as, a bus or a communication link, eitheroptical, wired or wireless having program code segments carried thereonas digital or analog data signals.

The claims should not be read as limited to the described order orelements unless stated to that effect. Therefore, all embodiments thatcome within the scope and spirit of the following claims and equivalentsthereto are claimed as the invention.

1. A method of displaying market information relating to a tradableobject, the method comprising: dynamically displaying a quantityindicator associated with at least one order of the tradable object inrelation to a static axis of prices; dynamically displaying a firstindicator of a price associated with a lowest traded price of thetradable object during a predetermined period of time in relation to thestatic axis of prices; and dynamically displaying a second indicator ofa price associated with a highest traded price of the tradable objectduring the predetermined period of time in relation to the static axisof prices.